UPDATED 7:40 p.m. NORMAL –– Police from Normal and McLean County confronted and shot a man, suspected of robbing a Check n’ Go in Bloomington, following a high-speed chase on interstate highways around Normal Monday afternoon. | UPDATED Photo gallery

The man police believe robbed four banks in December apparently hit a currency exchange about 1:45 p.m. Monday, Bloomington police said, and was pursued when officers from several jurisdictions picked up the chase near Lexington.

The Pantagraph has learned that the suspect is Robert Sylvester, who court records list as 57 years old.

Police said the suspect was taken to a local hospital. Family members confirmed that Sylvester was at BroMenn Regional Medical Center.

Gary Sylvester said his uncle was an ironworker for about 30 years with a union local, and worked for various contractors.

He said family and friends are “just still in shock. It doesn’t feel real.”

“It’s pretty much all sad—all of it,” said Sylvester, about Monday’s events as well as his uncle being the sole suspect in six armed robberies.

He said “about 30 or so” family friends first gathered in the waiting room of the emergency room and then to a waiting room near the intensive care.

“The family decided to go ahead and donate his organs so somebody could get some good out of this,” said the nephew of Bloomington.

The names of the officers and their police departments involved in the shooting were not being released early Monday evening.

Normal Assistant Chief Rick Bleichner said, "I can tell you we had officers on-scene so it is a possibility they were involved but I cannot confirm that while the incident remains under investigation."

Robbed at gunpoint Monday was Check ‘n Go, Market and Hinshaw Streets, police said. The man fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Around 3 p.m., police began a high-speed pursuit of the suspect’s van on Interstate 55 near Lexington. The chase detoured onto P.J. Keller Highway and rural road near Lake Bloomington before the suspect made his way onto Interstate 39 near Hudson.

The chase reached speeds in excess of 90 miles an hour according to traffic on police radios. The suspect, driv-ing what appeared to be a gray van, had both tires go flat on the vehicle but managed to drive off the I-39 exit onto the Interstate 55/74 bypass west of Normal.

According to an eye-witness at the scene, the suspect stopped the vehicle near the Peoria exit onto I-74 just north of Normal Community West High School, exited the van and jumped the concrete barrier in the median onto the northbound lane, displaying a handgun.

Officers from Normal police and the sheriff’s department then exchanged fire with the suspect, who fell onto the road.

More than 20 police vehicles from departments including Normal, McLean County, Lexington and Illinois State Police were still on the scene at 4 p.m.

Police were diverting northbound traffic on I-55/74 at Market Street and were allowing one-lane of traffic southbound, causing a backup for several miles.

The Illinois Department of Transportation said Interstate 55 northbound at milepost 162 and Interstate 74 west-bound were closed just south of the Interstate 55/Interstate 74 split on Normal’s northwest side for a state police investigation Monday afternoon. The detour is expected to remain in effect until at least 10:30 p.m. tonight and possibly as late as early Tuesday.

Traffic will be detoured off I55 at Market Street to Mitsubishi Motorway, then north to I-74 eastbound back to Interstate 55.

The description of the robber police gave earlier Monday was very similar to four previous bank robberies in the Twin Cities since Dec. 3, including U.S. Bank on South Main Street, which was robbed twice.

The latest robbery at U.S. Bank was New Year’s Eve, and a little more than an hour later police believe the same man also robbed a currency exchange on Bloomington’s east side.

The suspect in Monday’s robbery was wearing a mask, jeans, dark hooded jacket and the rest of his description was virtually the same as in the previous cases.

This marks the third shooting of a suspect in a vehicle by area police in the past 9 years.

In July of 2000, Shannon Smith, 27, of Weston was fatally shot during a police pursuit down Interstate 55 over an alleged failure to pay for gasoline on the bridge over Money Creek in rural Towanda. He was not armed and men-tally disabled.

Nathan Ruch, an Illinois State University student living in Bloomington, was shot to death March 27, 2002 in Normal, by James Merica following a chase. Merica, now a Normal Police detective, was a patrol officer at the time.

This story will be updated.

What pistol is that?

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What pistol is that?

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Denim head to toe.  Nice.

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IBTPTDG

In before the poor trigger discipline gestapo

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Get a load of that outlaw grandpa! All wild west and shit. Goddamn.

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Excellent Photoshop fodder

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IBTPTDG

In before the poor trigger discipline gestapo

Gary Sylvester said his uncle was an ironworker for about 30 years with a union local, and worked for various contractors.

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Denim head to toe.  Nice.

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Canadian tuxedo.

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damn,  those pictures look like scenes in a movie.  that guy  is wasone crazy mofo.

i wonder how they were captured???

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Fixed it for ya

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He's in the hospital and still breathing.....NOT DEAD yet.

“The family decided to go ahead and donate his organs so somebody could get some good out of this,” said the nephew of Bloomington."

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I dunno....

from the link:



eta––I changed the thread title. At least it's searchable

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Smoking and running from the Po-Po.  Smarts I tells ya..

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What pistol is that?

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This happened about 25 miles from me. I heard about it on the radio earlier out in the shop. Didn't know they had shot the guy.

great pics. Its good to see they caught him.

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Looking this guy up on our local court access shows he's no angel.  He's had a few domestic battery charges, along with some other stuff.